The KamiSama Conspiracy
by Sylvia Marri
Summary: Syaoran and Sakura never got along well together. But when Kamisama suddenly threw them a curve ball, Sakura and Syaoran grudgingly decided that conspiring with each other is their only solution… [Updated] SxS,TouyaxMeiling.
1. Prologue: Warm Up!

**The Kami-Sama Conspiracy  
**Paulo Coelho wrote in _The Alchemist,  
__"When it's meant for you, the world will conspire with you to have it."  
_Or something like that.

**Summary:  
**Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Sakura had started off at the wrong foot. So far, the only opinion that they share is their mutual dislike for each other. It's bad enough that they were neighbors and classmates, but Kami-Sama has one more trick up His sleeve: Sakura's father decides to marry Syaoran's mother! They grudgingly conspired with each other to break their parents apart. But will they be able to pull it off without trying to kill each other first?

The answer is yes. And that is when one of them starts to believe that one cannot live _without_ the other…

* * *

**A/N:** Hello! This is my very first attempt to upload a fan fic. I took my time in writing and editing this story. Expect the few chapters to be lengthy because I intend to make this character-centric at first. Please support my story! Read and review! I'll appreciate constructive criticisms, but please try to be gentle with them, ayt? Xie xie! Have fun reading! d:) 

**Warning:** Slight OOC, AU

**Genre:** Romance/Humor/Adventure

**Disclaimer:** I unfortunately don't own any of the CCS characters. sigh But the plot is mine. copy-paste Sakura's death glare

* * *

**Prologue: Warm Up!**

"Finally," Syaoran said as he heaved a great sigh. He stood up and began stretching his arms and legs after unpacking his last box. He already spent half of his day filing clothes on his closet (Kami-sama knows how much he had), his blade collections, his shoes, his CDs and everything else. He didn't want to leave his things unpacked until next day. What he can do today, he wouldn't leave it until tomorrow. Besides, he wanted to do a little exploration on his new town.

"Mom, I'm done!" he screamed from his room as he massaged the crick at the back of his neck. He thought of checking out a good place to hang out, a park nearby or a temple maybe. He collected all his empty boxes, folded them up into a neat stack of cartons, and decided to take them out of his room and into the garage.

Then he realized that he just did a very, _very_ grave mistake when he saw his four older sisters grinning like monkeys in his doorway, literally blocking his path to freedom. Syaoran never had to guess why: he never should have announced that he was through with his stuff. Judging from the way his sisters are looming at him, thoughts of his exploration flew from his mind faster than he could say—

"No," he flatly refused when Shiefa began calling his name in a singsong voice. He backed away and tried to close his door. But Feimei had already slid her foot in and prevented Syaoran from escaping them through his window.

Fanren immediately pouted and cooed at him. "Aww look, the little wolf's done unpacking. Here, let us help you with that and you help us—"

"No," Syaoran groaned and immediately tried to duck around the four—the cartons clutched tightly in his hand like a shield as means of protection. His current mission changed from getting the boxes to the garage: he _must_ get away from his sisters—fast—if he wants to enjoy the rest of his day! Syaoran sidestepped Shiefa but—

"You are so touchy," said Fuutie, grabbing hold of his left cheek and stopping him from getting away.

_So much for trying_, he thought grimly.

"We just wanted to spend some quality time with our little brother," Shiefa agreed.

_Yeah, right!_ Syaoran miserably thought, not missing the mischievous gleam in his sisters' eyes. "Le' me wo! Le' me frooh!" Syaoran screamed incoherently, struggling against his sisters however futile his efforts might be. "I don't—want—to—waaah!"

By this time, Shiefa and Feimei had already taken hold of his load and had thrown them back to his room. Syaoran's eyes widened in alarm as the folded cartons nearly toppled down his CD tower, which he painstakingly arranged in alphabetical order (from top to bottom). Fanren and Fuutie held his arms as tight as a vise grip and literally dragged him on his heels to his sisters' rooms. Syaoran sighed resignedly when his sisters finally threw him down on one of the less cluttered beds.

"Ouch!" Syaoran stood up rubbing his shoulder where a nail file, a hairbrush, and a heel of a shoe dug into his back. He wondered why their room is so dark when he knew that it had the most number of windows. Then he looked up and groaned loudly.

"You had better feed me good food this dinner or I'm going to thoroughly enjoy ripping your throats while you're sleeping," Syaoran threatened his sisters as they pushed him in front of tall wall of unpacked boxes. "What in blazes were you doing the whole time you're up here?" His sisters merely looked at him with huge, pleading Bambi eyes.

Syaoran could only stare and wondered for the nth time how he—a mere fifteen-year-old innocent—had ended up unluckily in the company of four unpredictable women.

"Syaoran, that's not a good thing to say to your sisters!" Yelan, their lovely raven-haired mother, scolded him as she sashayed towards his sisters.

Syaoran's jaw dropped at the comment while his four sisters giggled at the background. Then he caught a wink and a conspiring grin from his mother.

_Five,_ he mentally corrected himself, _five unpredictable women_, as he looked at his mother who was now whispering excitedly with his sisters.

Most people would probably think that as the youngest and only male child in the Li family, Syaoran's mother and four sisters would spoil him rotten. But how wrong they were! Living with them made Syaoran feel old; so old that the he sometimes felt like an old nagging dad to his mom and sisters. Not that he minded being the one in charge. He prided his mom's business acumen, but it rather scared him to death if he'd let his mom run the house, much less his sisters. So crucify him if he's feeling _that_ responsible. He rather took to heart what his late father had casually told him before he died in a bloody car accident on his way to work.

_Take care of them_.

He did and he was only 9 years old then.

"Syaoran?" called his mother and snapped him out of his reverie.

"Yes?"

"Here," said Yelan. Syaoran's arm shot up and caught a set of keys before it hit a very delicate vase. "Your sisters and I are going out for a short while. We're taking the car so if you want to cruise around later, take the scooter instead."

"You're leaving me? Where are you going?"

"To our newly opened boutique, where else?"

"You're going to let my sisters make me unpack their boxes?" Syaoran blanched.

_No. Friggin'. Way. For Kami-sama's sake, aren't they even afraid that I might hide their undies?_

Yelan looked at him as if he just announced that he had sprouted two heads. "Syaoran, my dear, don't you think that it's wiser if you unpack the boxes yourself since you did the packing, too? You at least have an idea where you put everything, right?"

And the door of doom closed, leaving him staring at all the boxes he had packed back in Hong Kong just days ago.

_Open mouth; shove foot._

He sighed then began to roll up his sleeves.

* * *

Sakura was in mid-yawn when three pillows hit her consecutively in the face. "Hey!" she protested as she tried to shield herself from the fourth pillow. 

"Get up now, lazy kaijuu!" Touya bellowed not far from Sakura. He flung another pillow from the couch at his sleepy sister.

The pillow hit Sakura squarely at the forehead. Sakura got up at once, which surprised Touya. But he should have trusted his instincts immediately and ducked for cover when Sakura did what he precisely ordered: his younger sister deftly grabbed a fallen pillow and hurled it at him. He dodged it, of course, but not the heel that Sakura had accurately stomped and drilled on his already sore toe.

"Ow, ow!"

"That's for calling me kaijuu!" Sakura informed him, satisfied that his toe now hurts.

"I just came from soccer practice!" Touya complained as he hopped his way to the nearest couch. He pulled his sock off and started to massage his sore foot.

Sakura peaked a look at his brother's foot when Touya shut his eyes in pain for a moment.

Sakura thought that she might have stomped too hard this time. "What do you want?" she asked, still irritated that Touya had woken her up.

She had just spent a good portion of her afternoon curled up at the couch because she had dysmenorrhea. And Sakura is not a force to reckon with whenever she has monthly periods. Touya and her father learned this valuable lesson the hard way.

"I was going to ask you what you wanted for dinner. Grocery's nearly done for and I was going out. Now my poor foot can hardly move," Touya muttered between grimaces.

Sakura's heart almost went to Touya. But she's not going to let Touya know that that softened her a little. "Don't move from there," she ordered him.

"As if," Touya clipped as Sakura marched to the kitchen and got out the First Aid Kit from one of the cabinets. Sakura heard Touya launching into an elaborate dialogue about having a hard soccer practice on a _Sunday_, then getting home to a sleeping sister and thought that his _kaijuu_ sister looked so—gasp!—cute that he wanted to buy her dinner even if he was pooped already.

Feeling just a little guilty, Sakura muttered a soft, "Okay, okay, sorry." Touya grinned and Sakura didn't like the look of it. "But if you didn't wake me up like that, I wouldn't have gotten mad," Sakura couldn't help pointing it out just to quash his brother's grinning face.

"Er, Sakura?" Touya called in a singsong voice.

Sakura looked up and saw that Touya had a queer expression on his face. "Nani?"

"I've been waking you up like that since ages ago. What makes you think I'd try another way?"

Sakura didn't break eye contact as she pinched Touya's biggest, reddest and sorest toe.

"Yeowch!" Touya exclaimed as he tried to pull away his foot. But Sakura wasn't finished yet.

"Big ape!" Sakura muttered under her breath. _Onii-chan got the last word again,_ she thought as she finished wrapping bandage, none too gentle.

"You're excessively being too grouchy today," Touya grimaced as he rubbed his bandaged foot. "You have that monthly thingy, ne?" Touya didn't ask; he stated. Sakura stood up and upended every thrown pillow on the floor looking for her pink tote bag. "I'm telling you, put a big, red banner at the wall every time you have it," Touya suggested sagely. "That would be a tremendous reminder to put us on our guards!"

Sakura gave him a chilling glare that _should _have made anyone stop cold.

"At least I'd know and give people a fair reason why I'm always injured that time of month!" Touya insisted after a while, now massaging his other foot.

"Shut. Up."

Touya, who was already immune to her death glares, even had the gall to break into a grin.

Sometimes, Sakura wondered how she was able to put up with her rowdy brother.

_Now where is the darn bag! _She thought of getting her cat to sniff out her bag. Kami-sama knows how sensitive her cat's nose was. It wasn't even a dog, but it could smell a dead lizard or a rat in some three-digit meter radius. Tried and tested. And you don't want a repeat scene when her cat finds the scent that irritates it most.

She heard Touya moan in pain behind her. Sakura looked at him and saw him clumsily bump his bandaged foot at the foot of the center table. Then Sakura took a second look at her brother's foot.

_Oh_.

Now she remembers.

"Kero…" she called her cat sweetly.

Sakura saw Touya stilling in his place, his face unreadable.

"Kero? Oh, Kero… here sweet kitty-kitty…" Sakura continued.

"Don't you dare…" Touya threatened in a flat voice.

Sakura feigned innocence. "Dare what?"

"You're calling that horrible cat of yours!"

Sakura gave Touya a smile coated with honey. In heavy syrup. "Oh, but Touya, I can't find my bag. You know how _useful_ Kero is during these times."

"Hmpf." Touya didn't like the double entendre in Sakura's last sentence.

Sakura stifled her giggle. Her cat and her brother got along well like oil and water. Whenever Kero is around, Touya cannot attack Sakura—verbally and physically—because Kero would jump at him and start gnawing his leg. And to think that it was Touya who gave her the cat on her birthday.

Sakura looked pointedly at her brother's foot. "Tsktsk, be forewarned, onii-chan. I know Kero doesn't like the smell of dead rat—" Touya shot her a warning look. "Er, sweaty foot," Sakura hastily corrected. "You don't—"

"I know, I know."

Sakura hid an evil grin. _Time: Eighteen hundred forty-five. Score: One to Touya, one to Sakura. _Sakura called out Kero again when she started to become frustrated at the loss of her tote bag. But the cat seemed to have vanished again. _Typical Kero. Where had he gone to this time? _

Then Sakura finally spotted her bag beneath her brother's sweaty sock and a pillow. _Eww_. Sakura shouldered her bag, put the pillow back on an empty couch and flung her dirty brother's sock back at Touya's face before she marched to the front door.

"Not a bad aim, kaijuu. But care to tell me where you're going?" Touya sputtered after removing the sock from his nose.

Sakura stopped herself from throwing at Touya the shoes she's putting on. "Well you obviously can't walk and I'm hungry."

Touya let out a charming grin at his younger sister. "Get me sushi!" Touya called at Sakura's retreating back.

"Who said I'm going to buy you food? Go eat your sock!" Sakura called without looking back and disappeared into the night. Touya's stomach chose precisely that moment to growl.

_Time: Eighteen hundred forty-nine. Score: One to Touya, two to Sakura. Sakura wins._

* * *

The sun was already setting when Syaoran finished unpacking the more important items of his sisters. Even though he was used to rigorous hours of training wushu, he felt soreness creeping from his back to his shoulders and down to his fingertips. He is _not_ used to unpacking and unloading stuff for ten hours. 

Then his stomach growled in protest. He was _not_ going to do all the unpacking, Syaoran vowed. Then sighed. As if he didn't say almost the same line back in Hong Kong while they were still packing. A day before their flight, he found his four sisters asleep on top of their half-packed mess and their flight were only hours away in the morning. Why can't he just say "no" to them?

Syaoran decided that if he intends to stay up awake to finish unpacking, he might as well energize himself first. He had to find food—fast—before he withers. Unfortunately though, while he can do almost every chore in the house, the only thing he couldn't touch is the kitchen. He was so bad at cooking that even rats wouldn't touch it. He knew that there is nil possibility of having food at the kitchen at the moment. He so wished that his sisters (who are always in charge of the kitchen) would remember the essential stuff. Like milk or cereal. He'd even be grateful for potato chips.

But then again, they'd be coming out from a mall. They would still be spellbound until the charm of their new clothes wears off tomorrow morning. Syaoran sighed. It seemed like he had no choice but to go around the yet unfamiliar town to scour for food. Syaoran almost wanted to pity himself at this moment. _Tired, hungry, and alone._ Sob.

Syaoran stood up and tiptoed around the room, avoiding anything that could possibly—

_SPLAT!_

He saw the ceiling when he opened his eyes. _What did I ever do to deserve this luck?_ He felt under his back thinking he broke something. He fingered something wet and Syaoran horribly thought that he might have stepped on one of his sisters' perfumes. _They will_absolutely_ kill me!_

Syaoran brought a finger to his face and sniffed it. "What the—"

Syaoran sat up straight and grabbed the plastic bottle on the floor. "What the freak!" he exclaimed as he read something on the bottle. _A bottle containing a rat's scent? What is this doing in my sisters' room? _He prepared to toss it to the garbage can when he slipped a little and poured himself a good amount of the liquid—on the shirt, pants, and shoes.

_Shit. Now I smell like a rat!_

He gloomily tossed the bottle at the garbage can and began to pull off his shirt. He headed back to his room hoping that he didn't need another shower before he could eat. His feet, he bets, must be starting to turn blue!

He smelled himself—sniffed whatever part of his body his nose could reach. He was not going out in town for the first time smelling like a dead rat. He quickly grabbed a shirt and newly pressed denim from his closet. He was about to pull out a change for his shoes when his stomach growled again.

_My stomach can't wait. _Syaoran sniffed the shoes he's wearing and decided that it didn't smell as bad as his clothes so he left it at that. Satisfied with his nosy inspection, he took the house keys from his table and went to the garage to ride the scooter. Then he discovered to his utter _delight_ that his _considerate _mother had obviously taken the family car because the scooter had run out of gas. _Great._ _Just great._

Syaoran wanted to scream. But his stomach beat him to it and released another deadly growl.

* * *

**A/N: **Well... there goes the Prologue.Tell me what you think, alright? Thank you for reading! 

**Up Next! **He thought that nothing worse could happen that day as he walked around an unfamiliar town to find food. She thought that nothing could piss her off more than having to be woken up badly on one of her worst days. Well… they both thought wrong.


	2. Round One: Fight!

**The Kami-sama Conspiracy**  
Paulo Coelho wrote in _The Alchemist,_  
"_When it's meant for you, the world will conspire with you to have it."_  
Or something like that.

**Summary:**

Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Sakura had started off at the wrong foot.  
So far, the only opinion that they share is their mutual dislike for each other. It's bad enough that they were neighbors and classmates, but Kami-Sama has one more trick up His sleeve: Sakura's father decides to marry Syaoran's mother! They grudgingly conspires with each other to break their parents apart. But will they be able to pull it off without trying to kill each other first?

The answer is yes. And that is when one of them starts believing that one cannot live _without_ the other…

* * *

**A/N:** I wrote a part of this chapter during a three-hour ride back to the city. At night. I couldn't see a damn letter of what I was writing hehe. But I managed to decipher it afterwards, and here it is! Hope you like it! Please R&R!  
**Warning:** Slight OOC, AU  
**Genre:** Romance/Humor/Adventure  
**Disclaimer:** I unfortunately don't own any of the CCS characters. (sigh) But the plot is mine. MINE. (copy-paste Sakura's death glare here)

* * *

**Story thus far…**

Syaoran just arrived from Hong Kong and was unluckily appointed to unpack his sisters' mountain-load of stuff. He was tired, bruised, hungry and alone. He thought that nothing worse could happen that day as he walked around an unfamiliar town to find food. Until he met Sakura, who was having dysmenorrhea then. Touya had just ignited her dynamite and Sakura was so pissed off that she left her brother with an injured toe, deciding to get dinner for herself alone. She thought that nothing could piss her off more than having to be woken up badly on one of her worst days. And then she saw her cherished Kero being kicked mercilessly by a chocolate-haired boy...

* * *

**Round One: Fight!**

Sakura stopped at a street corner and held on to a wall as she braced herself for a stab of pain that she knew would come.

It did, and she almost screamed out loud. She mentally cursed Touya for this. If he hadn't bugged her the way he did, she wouldn't be here worrying about what to cook for dinner. She, of course, was just kidding when she said that she'd eat dinner alone and leave Touya to fight with roaches for mere morsels. Even if Touya really gets under her skin, she couldn't let him sleep with an empty stomach.

She felt another stab of pain sear her tummy. Because of that, she almost scratched the concern she'd thought for Touya.

The pain passed finally and she began to take small steps. _Oh, the pain of being a woman_. Sakura briefly wondered if it runs in their blood. Having dysmenorrhea, she meant. Tomoyo, her cousin, doesn't seem to be suffering the severe effects of menstruation. She hadn't bothered to ask Tomoyo's mother. And Sakura couldn't as well ask her dead mother, Nadeshiko.

_How long has it been, okaa-san?_ _Is it ten years already? _Sakura counted. Then counted again. Math had always been her weak spot at school.

Yes, it had been a decade already since her mother passed away. Her memories of her were few but Touya was old enough to remember much about their mother. If there was one thing that she and Touya passionately agrees with, it would be their love for their late okaa-san.

Her most cherished memory of her mother was the time when Nadeshiko let her help in the kitchen. Her mother never raised her voice at her even when she spilled the milk. Or dropped half a dozen eggs on the floor. Or accidentally turned up the stove's heat causing the hotdogs to burn. Nadeshiko just smiled and taught and guided her patiently. She was on the verge of tears when Nadeshiko crouched in front of her and cupped her face. "Sakura, cooking is not just about how much salt you're going to put in Touya's scrambled eggs, or how much sugar you'd put on Fujitaka's coffee. It's sometimes about remembering how they'd be happy to have someone they love help sustain their lives with each meal you prepare."

Sakura had looked at her mother questioningly then, not understanding a thing.

Nadeshiko smiled again and said, "If you think about how happy they'd be with whatever you'd serve them, think about how _happier_ they could be if you cooked it right just for them."

Sakura didn't know how it happened, but she _did_ understand that. After that one lecture, she promised to learn by heart her family's most favorite food and how they liked it. Her mother died a few weeks later.

When Nadeshiko died, Sakura promised to be just like her. She vowed to take over the kitchen. It was one reason why she couldn't bear to starve Touya. Touya had been loyal to her ever since she stubbornly declared that she would rule over the skillets and spatulas. Touya never spat any of her cooking—even at the time when her cooking was bad enough that not even the garbage would welcome it.

Which brought her back to her current problem: What to have for dinner. For her and Touya and her dad, if in case he'd drop by home. Her father is very much a wanderlust these past few days. Last she heard, her father "dropped by" in Hong Kong.

Sakura was busy contemplating what to buy at the grocery store when she heard a familiar meow above her.

"Kero-chan!" exclaimed Sakura when she looked up at the location of the sound. She held her arms up as an invitation to an orange, bear-looking cat. The cat meowed again and jumped down to her. "What are you doing here? I've been looking for you earlier."

The cat meowed again in response. Sakura smiled. Her cat Kero has got to be one of the weirdest looking cats in the vicinity, but Kero was also smart. It has red-orange fur all over its body, marred with two white spots amazingly shaped like wings on each of the his sides. Kero's eyes have that intelligent, sharp look that most of the time stares fixedly at her brother; its nose have that proud, snobbish look that says it all. Its ears, unlike most cats, were not pointed but oddly shaped like a teddy's ear. Weird-looking or not, she loved Kero like a mother loved a child.

She cuddled him while walking. The gesture of petting her cat somehow eased her mind off the pain in her gut. But before she reached the next street intersection, Kero suddenly jumped away from her and disappeared among the crowd. Kero looked like he was on a mission, and having sensed a target, had immediately acted on it. Sakura could only sigh. She crossed the street and turned to her right to enter the grocery, a hand resting on her tummy.

* * *

Kami-sama must have heard his plea because Syaoran foundna good ramen house just a few blocks from his house. Rested and fed,  
Syaoran thought he should be heading back right now. Knowing his family, his mother or sisters must have forgotten to bring their house keys again. 

He stopped at a street intersection where some cars were passing by. He felt a light breeze caress his skin, the night neither cold nor hot. Syaoran looked up and saw that the night sky is dotted with bright, twinkling diamonds. For a moment, he felt like he was back in Hong Kong, sitting idly on top of the roof of their house just feeling the elements while watching the world fade into darkness, until the stars appear and the moonlight shine. He savored the feeling of "conspiring with the stars." It had always given him the feeling of hope: that after a hard day's work comes a promise of something beautiful.

Syaoran pocketed his hands and stared at the stars again. They were blinking and winking at him as if hinting that tonight is the start of something wonderful. He breathed the beauty of the night from where he was standing. For the first time that day, Syaoran felt that his planets were spinning right in their respective axis. Somehow, he felt welcomed at last.

And then he heard a soft annoying sound at his feet.

Syaoran looked down at his right foot and saw a yellow pug staring at him—all of its teeth bared and hair standing at the nape, its rounded ears on high alert.

Then the "dog" suddenly let out an angry meow at his feet as if he just offended its senses.

Syaoran thought that it has got to be the weirdest looking cat he had ever seen. It almost looked like bear. _A winged bear-like cat,_ he added, as he saw a white wing-shaped spot at either sides of the animal. "Hey," Syaoran tried to coo the strange-looking cat by lifting his shoed foot and pretended to caress its back. But the gesture seemed to have made the cat angrier.

"Fine," Syaoran gave up and looked expectantly at the pedestrian stoplight. Apparently, some of his planets have still gone awry. Not even a cat (or a dog, whatever) could welcome him, albeit reluctant.

The light turned green for pedestrians and Syaoran started to cross the street. Then he felt that something actually bit him at the back of his ankle—through his jeans and through his sock. He looked down and saw that big orange cat's teeth still trying to bite a huge chunk off his leg.

"Hey!" Syaoran shooed the cat unsuccessfully. He tried to get the cat off him by kicking in the air but he yielded no such luck. People were already giving him weird looks. _What did I ever do to deserve this? _he asked himself for the second time that day.

He grabbed the nape of cat and tried to tear it away from his jeans, but the cat held on to him—tooth and claw and all. "Get off! Get off! I'm no rat, baka neko!"

"Don't you dare call my cat stupid, you jerk!"

But Syaoran was too busy fending off the cat that was oddly attacking him for some unfathomable reason. His patience was wearing thin already. He was too tired to be in this kind of unspeakable situation that Syaoran stomped on the floor on his last attempt to break free of the cat. With an ear-splitting screech, the cat finally let go and scurried to nearest lamppost, licking its tail.

"Finally, I thought—"

"Kero! Waah!"

Syaoran looked behind him and caught sight of a screaming and angry female running towards him. The next thing he knew, the female who was no older than him had hit his shoulders with a pink bag like he was a criminal caught in the act of violence. She looked at him with—Syaoran gulped—murder in her eyes.

"You cruel jerk!" Sakura screamed at Syaoran's ear before shoving him squarely at the shoulders, her pink bag and a plastic of groceries hitting him at the ribs.

_Now what did I just do? _Syaoran miserably thought as he rolled his eyes at the skies. _Is this Your idea of something wonderful?_ he asked as rubbed his ribs. A/N: Line taken from Ms. Judith McNaught's novel, "_Something Wonderful" _:)

"How could you do that to my cat!" the auburn-haired female yelled at him. "Come here, Kero-chan. Here sweet kitty…" Syaoran watched the female cooed in a softer voice.

Sakura crouched in front of her cat thinking that Kero must have suffered trauma under the stranger's violent foot stomping. Sakura glared at the chocolate-haired boy who was checking his ankle and jeans.

_How could anyone be so cruel to Kero!_ Sakura thought._ The stranger must be giving off bad vibes like Touya to have annoyed Kero that much. That,_ she added as she glanced thoughtfully at Chocolate Boy's foot,_ or his foot must have smelled _that _bad._

Syaoran didn't need to hear the words; the look that her glacial emerald eyes had given him just told him so.

For a moment, Syaoran's eyes became mere dots as he sensed the disgust in the stranger's aura. _I never really deserve this!_ He was rendered speechless and motionless for a moment as he tried to digest what had just transpired today.

Unpacking a mountain of boxes and being attacked by a strange cat do not exactly fall under lucky day. And now a female had just called him a jerk and was looking at him with unconcealed disgust.

_What's the world coming to? _Syaoran wanted to scream at the skies. The stars twinkled at the moon, then winked innocently at him. _Some conspiracy._

Syaoran dared a look at the auburn-haired female petting the cat (that was still giving him weird looks). "Does your tail hurt, Kero?" the stranger asked the cat in a softer voice so unlike the one she had used on him.

The orange cat called Kero meowed loudly as a reply like it was in deep pain.

A pair of icy emerald eyes glared at him again. "Look what you did to him!"

Syaoran's jaw dropped. "What I did— Well, look what he did to _me_! He just created two huge holes at my jeans!" he sputtered, finally gaining back his speech facility.

"Nonsense!" Sakura butted. She was thoroughly incensed that Kero was hurt. Not even Touya had dared to hurt her cat, but this stranger just did! "If you weren't the jerk that you are—

"That's the third time you've called me a jerk, lady!" interrupted Syaoran, a vein painfully throbbing on his forehead already.

"You could have tried to pry him off you without resorting to violence!" Sakura continued heatedly as if she didn't hear him. She scooped up her cat and caressed its head.

"Violence!"

"You stepped on his tail!"

"You know I actually _did _try! Now if you had actually tried to _look_ rather than started screaming like a pig—"

"And _who_ do you _think_ you're calling a _pig_?" Sakura rounded suddenly on him.

Syaoran believed that he had just been the unlucky recipient of a rarely seen super death glare. Slightly taken aback, Syaoran tried to calmly continue driving his point. "Point is, I tried. But your cat won't let go of me, and my ankle is already smarting from his bite!"

Sakura's emerald eyes narrowed at him. "You cruel _jerk_ called Kero 'baka neko'." she spat.

"Well, he is!" Syaoran snapped back. His patience—whatever was left of it—quickly went down the drain because of the stranger's obtuseness. He just had dinner and his energy is already depleted. "He started growling—purring—at my feet for no apparent reason and followed me here—ow! Ow! What the hell was that for?"

Syaoran could not believe that an auburn-haired, green-eyed, pink bag-toting stranger had just stomped on his foot and grossly stuck out a tongue at him in less than a day's stay at his new country!

_What is the world _really _coming to?_

_

* * *

_

**A/N: **Hmm... It looked like Syaoran and Sakura got off at the wrong, er, foot. :p Gimme at least 4 reviews for this chapter and I'd be glad to upload the next one. Hope I'm not asking for too much, ne? Thanks calicookie1991:)

**Up Next! **He's got a neighbor from hell. But upon seeing Sakura at his new school, Syaoran grabbed Sakura and dragged her to an open stock room, bent on laying some ground rules. But Sakura just screamed at him, "You monkey, you locked us up at the stock room!"

"Like I'd do anything with you."

"The door _is _and _has always been _jammed. Congratulations. You managed to imprison us on our first day of school at a room where anyone rarely visits."


	3. Round One: Fight Part 2

**Disclaimer: **I only own CCS when I'm dreaming.

**----**

**Kami-sama Conspiracy  
Round One: Fight (Part II)**

**---  
**

**Previously  
**_Syaoran could not really believe that a cat just attacked him. And now, anauburn-haired, green-eyed, pink bag-toting stranger had just stomped on his foot and grossly stuck out a tongue at him in less than a day's stay at his new country!_

* * *

Nobody had ever talked to Li Syaoran that way. Ever. Not that he was having an ego trip, but the Li family is one of the most respectable families in Hong Kong. It was only by his mother's whim that they live now in Japan for a while which finally provided him a much needed break from the limelight. His day was clearly turning up for the worse. 

He just wanted to go home.

---

Sakura, on the other hand, could not believe that anyone could just be so cruel. She cuddled Kero to her as sprinted away from the chocolate-haired boy who was angrily following her. _This guy just doesn't know the true meaning of the word back-off!_

Sakura stopped and prepared to launch a stinging tirade at the boy. But to her surprise, the boy went past her. Incensed that the boy ignored her when he _knew_ she was about to say something to him, she called him out. "Why the heck are you following me?"

A vein threatened to pop at the corner of Sakura's forehead. _The monkey didn't even bother to answer me! The nerve! _she thought, balling her hand into a tight fist.

Syaoran was walking down the street leading to his house when he heard the voice of the stranger.

"Hey."

Syaoran didn't stop but he took a quick glance at his back and saw an unfamiliar male and the razor-tongued stranger. Syaoran walked faster. Clearly, this lady has the habit of picking up a fight wherever she was.

"Hey you!"

Syaoran thought that, apparently, whomever the stranger picked a fight with chose the right decision of not paying attention.

"I asked you a question, you _jerk_!"

Syaoran stupidly wondered why he turned around, walked back to the stranger, and told her outright, "That's the fourth time you called me a jerk."

To Syaoran's horror, Sakura looked like she was trying to bit back a wayward smile. "It's nice to know that you can count. Convinced you're a jerk already?"

Syaoran opened his mouth for a stinging reply but the stranger beat him to it. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Answer my question, dammit!"

"What question?"

Sakura actually rolled her eyes at Syaoran as if he was being stupid on purpose. "I'm going this way." She pointed at the street that he was walking at earlier. "You," she pointed at his chest with her index, "go yours. Got it?"

Syaoran knew that Nippongo was just his second language, but he was just as fluent. But somehow, she completely lost him. "What?"

"For Kami-sama's sake, I'll go this way andstop foll—no, do NOT follow me!"

"And what foolish monkey ever told you that I'm _ever_ going to follow a cat-napping parrot like you!"

"That's bull! I lived in this place fifteen years of my life and practically know everyone in here, long enough to know that you do _not_ live here!"

Syaoran advanced in on her and accidentally stepped on her foot. "You are so wrong in that department lady 'coz—"

"Ow!" Sakura glared hard at him before she dug the heel of her toe on Syaoran's foot again. Syaoran was about to retort, but Sakura cut him off as she threw her hand up in the air as a clear sign of exasperation. "Oh for shame! Why do I even bother talking to a dunderhead?"

Sakura started to stalk off but Kero jumped away from her clutches. "Kero!" But Kero ignored her and went to a garbage can at a street corner. "Come back here this minute, Kero!" Sakura shouted with her arms akimbo.

For the first time, Syaoran actually smirked before remarking sarcastically, "Your cat's a great actor. Are you his manager? One minute he's in pain, the next in glee with his fellow trash buddies."

"I heard that!"

"I meant for you to." Satisfied that he finally had the last word, Syaoran started to head back to his home sweet home while thinking of deviously torturous ways of getting back at the strange lady if he ever had the misfortune to meet her again.

Then he heard an ear-splitting scream behind him. _This soon?_ he thought. Then he made another grave—_very _grave—mistake of looking behind him as he saw a strange orange cat hovering in the air and looked like it was going to land—

"Oh, shit!" he shrieked as the cat landed heavily on his head. He just plucked the heavy cat off his face when he heard the strange lady scream again.

"Run! Kero, run!"

He looked up and saw a group of dogs chasing the female who was running… towards…

Him! "Oh, no!"

_She_, Syaoran miserably thought as he ran towards the direction of his house with Kero the cat stuck on him_, has got to be a magnet for trouble._

The dogs had finally given up after ripping a part of his jeans. Sakura was wide-eyed when he kicked the dog near the jaw so that he could escape. Sakura was still staring at the dog who howled in pain that Syaoran literally had to drag her by the arm before the other dogs rip her dress apart.

"You know, if I didn't know better, you got a nasty birthmark on your right cheek," Syaoran remarked as soon as he regained even breathing, and as soon as they lost the dogs.

Sakura was still clutching at her chest but Syaoran's remark left her mystified that she touched her cheeks unconsciously.

"On the butt's cheek, I meant."

"Why, you perv!"

"Oh, do stop being such a prissy! What exactly did you do to set those dogs off?"

"It wasn't… me," Sakura never thought that she'd actually stammer in front of this stranger. She answered that Kero had found food but the corner was apparently the dogs' territory and that…

"So it was your sweet, sweet kitty that got me again into trouble."

"Well, you weren't actually nice yourself in the first place! You kicked my cat—"

Syaoran rolled his eyes as he butted, "Because—"

"And then you kicked those poor, _poor _dogs—"

"The poor, _poor_ dog tore my jeans," Syaoran grumbled. "And _your_ poor, poor cat clawed at my shirt!"

Sakura huffed. "I said it wasn't my fault!"

"Did I say it was?"

"No."

"So leave it at that."

"You still kicked those animals."

"Hello? Would you rather let it have my leg then?" Syaoran rolled his eyes again. _She must be a staunch supporter of animal rights._

"You could have tried to—"

"Look," Syaoran cut. "I'm tired. I've no time for this idle conversation. Like you said, I go this way, and you go… wherever your way is." And Syaoran turned his back at her and started to walk.

Sakura looked around and saw that they had stopped at an intersection near at her house. Then she stared at the stranger's back who was walking down _her_ street. Sakura had to blink as the most unlikely realization passed through her head. _It couldn't be._

Sakura sprinted and shot past Syaoran. She wanted to go back to the comfort of her bedroom to sleep away the remaining hours of the day and forget the awful events of today. Sakura was huffing again when she reached the gates of her house.

"That's stupid of you to sprint after a hell of a chase," boomed a voice behind her.

"Aaaah!"

Sakura looked like she'd seen a ghost.

"Don't you dare creep at me like that!" she admonished as she recognized Syaoran. But she realized how futile her death glare was as she stared at the laughing monkey in front of her. "It wasn't funny," she said in a flat voice, a vein throbbing dangerously at the corner of her forehead.

"I doubt if you'd see what's funny," he said afterwards. "You didn't get to see your face."

"You are the most irritating man I've ever had the misfortune to meet," Sakura stated, her emerald eyes meeting amber.

"Likewise."

An eternity of staring later…

"Well?"

"Well what?" Syaoran asked.

"How about going back to wherever hell you came from?"

Syaoran just arched a brow and inclined his head at the unlighted house on the right.

"You're feeding me cock and bull story again."

"Am not. Now why don't you sashay that bo—" Sakura glared at him. "Body! I was going to say body! Swear!"

"Well, I _am _home, too." Sakura snapped at him while her eyebrows arched as she looked at the house right _beside_ his.

Syaoran looked at his house. Then at the female's house. Syaoran actually went pale: He's got a neighbor from hell!

Syaoran couldn't believe his unfortunate luck. He actually met a girl from hell and she happens to live beside him! On top of that, his only bedroom window turned out to be facing hers! Which he found out the next day when he opened the window of his bedroom to let some sunlight in.

Then Syaoran saw. He groaned at the sight of Sakura sprawled on her bed. Syaoran stared at his neighbor from hell and realized that looks could really be deceiving. The lady on the bed looked like she couldn't hurt a moth. He grudgingly admitted that besides looking so fragile, the girl was damn cute. With her auburn-hair framing rose-tinted cheeks, she looked so peaceful in her sleep that she could pass for a cherub. But alas, situation's different when she starts opening her mouth.

Then Syaoran saw at the corner of his eye that his neighbor's horrible cat sat on the window sill and was looking at Syaoran curiously. _Not again!_

To his surprise, the big cat jumped in his direction. Syaoran quickly tried to close his windows but the cat was too swift for him and landed on his chest again. Syaoran prepared himself for a massive clawing at his shirt.

It didn't come.

The cat instead jumped from his arms and, to his complete surprise, curled at the floor beneath his feet and purred at him. Syaoran stared. Syaoran risked another clawing when he crouched on the floor and attempted to caress the cat. The cat didn't resist and Syaoran took the gesture as if the cat had asked for truce. Syaoran smiled. "You're not bad." He gave the cat one last petting before he started preparing for school.

Syaoran arrived at his school with a positive thought that everything would come out right. He glanced at his watched and saw that it was still early. He went to the male's restroom first to freshen up. He intended to make a good impression on his first day at school. He'd already ruled out being neighborly for the most obvious reasons. He turned to the door out as he adjusted his cuffs.

He was glancing around the area when his stomach flipped. He felt like he would throw up the delicious breakfast that he had this morning upon sighting a _very _familiar figure running in the very hallway that he had trodden. Syaoran let out a groan before finding himself sprawled on the floor with his auburn-haired neighbor from hell on top of him.

(TBC)

* * *

A/N: This chapter was supposed to end at school. But I decided to cut it into reader "bite-size". Next chappie's up! 


	4. Round Two: Stuck

**Disclaimer: **I own CCS. Or so I wish.

_Syaoran looked at his house. Then at the female's house. Syaoran actually went pale: He's got a neighbor from hell!_

_The next day, Syaoran arrived at his school with a positive thought that everything would come out right. Then he saw a very familiar figure running in the very hallway that he had trodden. Syaoran let out a groan before finding himself sprawled on the floor with his auburn-haired neighbor from hell on top of him._

---

**Kami-sama Conspiracy**

**Round Two: Stuck**

**---**

Sakura was too preoccupied of her tardiness and hardly noticed Syaoran who had just gotten out of the men's room. She bumped into him and sent both of them sprawling on the floor.

"Do you have a habit of hitting people you hardly know?"

Sakura gasped. "What are you doing here?" she stupidly asked as she looked at the uniform that Syaoran was wearing. "Oh no," Sakura groaned. "Do NOT tell me," she warned him as she came up with the same realization as Syaoran did before she rammed into him.

"Wow. For the first time, I think we're agreeing on something," Syaoran bit out sarcastically as he brushed himself.

Sakura glared at him. "Just make sure that you don't show your butt-ugly face whenever I'm around or I'm gonna shove it up your own—"

"Likewise," he cut, as he struggled getting up. "Now if you don't mind, move your sloppy butt or I'm going to be late for my class."

"Hoe!" Sakura screamed near Syaoran's ear and scrambled to get up.

Syaoran didn't know if she meant that to render him deaf, but she had given him no reason to believe otherwise yet. He decided that it must be a definite "yes".

Sakura just remembered why she was running like Kero on a mission: She remembered that she going to run late. Again! Sakura scrambled to get up and grabbed whatever she had clumsily dropped on the floor. _Darn that goku for being in my way again!_

Syaoran was snapping his bag into place when he felt it disappear—no, _fly_ from his arm—in a blink! He looked behind him and saw that the strap of his bag had looped around the strap of Sakura's bag, who was now running along the hallway, his bag poorly dragged on the floor.

Syaoran cursed through gritted teeth as he ran after her until he caught his bag. "Hey—"

"Kinomoto!"

The girl sprinting in front of him halted abruptly and so unexpectedly that he bumped into her. "What the—"

Sakura turned around expecting one of her professors but she instead found herself facing a huffing and half-cursing chocolate-haired boy.

"Nyaah!" she squeaked. "Why are you still following me?" she asked as she jabbed her index finger at his chest.

Syaoran was about to point out that her bag was caught in his but the man behind him called again. "Kinomoto!"

Sakura turned her surprised eyes to the other man. "Terada-sensei!"

The professor then turned to Syaoran. Syaoran felt a bead of sweat trickle at his back. Somehow, he was extremely sensing that whatever this Terada professor was going to say was not to his liking.

And how right he was. "Kinomoto, I see that you've already met and befriended our new student."

Sakura's smiling face cracked. "N-nani?" _Befriended!_

Syaoran would have laughed at his neighbor's loss of composure. But the professor suddenly addressed him.

"Li Syaoran, isn't it?"

"Hai," answered Syaoran with a slight bow. "Good morning, sensei. I'm afraid I'm running a bit late," he said and bowed slightly again.

Sakura looked at this Li Syaoran boy who was being ever so polite at her favorite teacher. _Sucking up this early, huh?_

"Terada-sensei," intruded Sakura. "I must go now!" Sakura excused herself and started to walk. But she was immediately held back again. Her back landed against a chest, her foot landing on an uneven floor.

Then she heard a _familiar_ someone muttering a string of expletives near her ear about his foot being stepped on for the third time. There was definitely no guessing whom.

"You are a complete disaster," she heard him say.

A vein throbbed at her forehead. Did she hear it right? This newcomer just told her _that_? She, the First Year Class Representative? _Excuse me!_

"Why are you tagging along by the way?" she asked instead as she turned around and faced him, their noses only inches apart. "Planning to plant yourself near me again and wreak havoc?"

Syaoran returned the glare, lifted their tangled bag straps and simply pointed at it without breaking eye contact. "FYI."

_Oh. _Sakura cursed herself for not being able to control the flush that had colored her cheeks. "Why didn't you just say so?" she hissed softly refusing to look down.

Syaoran's left brow moved and Sakura believed that it was what they call a raised eyebrow. If this Syaoran guy would only just shut his mouth more like this then she could actually find him attractive just as he was right now—with him just staring at her with his liquid-hot amber eyes and saying nothing.

"Ehem," coughed a voice beside them.

Both heads turned in the direction of the sound and saw the forgotten professor. Only then that Syaoran and Sakura noticed that they were standing perilously close to each other—a slight push would make their lips brush against each other—with just mere inches and thick tension separating them.

To Syaoran's surprise, his eyes caught a lovely blush tinting the Kinomoto character's cheeks: as pink as her lips and as fresh as spring cherry blossoms.

_She should _definitely_ shut her mouth more often, _Syaoran absently thought.

"Ehem!" coughed the professor again more loudly this time. "I believe we're all late. I know that you probably want to, er, talk more but the class is waiting."

Sakura couldn't believe what she heard that she blushed again. Did Terada-sensei just imply that she, Sakura Kinomoto, wants to spend more time with this buffoon?

"Professor—" Sakura attempted to correct her professor as she tried to untangle their bag straps. There was no way she's letting him think that there _is _something going on between her and the buffoon!

"Go in, go in," he shooed them inside the classroom. "I think I can arrange something for the two of you."

Sakura gasped before letting her jaw drop. "Professor?" She looked briefly at Syaoran to see his reaction, but he was seemingly oblivious to it as her neighbor untangled the straps that Sakura failed to unknot. Sakura rolled her eyes at him and dragged her eyes back to her teacher.

To her great horror, the professor winked at her, seemingly pleased with himself and his obvious matchmaking. Then he left them, with her gaping at her professor's back. The only matchmaking that's happening was a _match_—in its most literal sense—a match that can cause fire!

"Move," she heard a voice intruding her thoughts.

"Huh?" Sakura turned around and faced the gaki goku.

"I said—"

"I heard you first time," Sakura cut. She is _not_ going to let this Li monkey get the last word. Over her dead (and beautiful) body.

Syaoran made a face. "So why aren't you moving? Brain having a hard time processing a one-word command?"

"No, but—"

Syaoran pretended not to hear the rest as he edged swiftly to his left, intending to sidestep Sakura.

Sakura had no intention of letting him pass that easy: she edged swiftly to her right blocking Syaoran's path.

Syaoran glared at Sakura and Sakura glared back. There was open challenge in the looks they were sending each other. It's only five minutes past seven but both their tempers were flaring hotter than the morning sun. They were oblivious to it but some students inside the classroom were already sweatdropping at the almost tangible flying sparks that the two were sending each other.

Syaoran moved to his right. Sakura moved to her left at the same time. Syaoran moved back to his left. Sakura moved to her right again at the same time.

"Just what are you trying to prove?" demanded an incensed Syaoran.

"Just where do you think you're going?" Sakura asked.

"To the zoo. Duh." Syaoran answered. He tried to snub the slow horror creeping up his spine already. "And what do you think you're doing?" he asked as he looked at her and then at her hand perched on his shoulder. "Ow! What do _you_ think you're doing?" he asked dubiously again as he flinched in pain.

"Pinching you to know if this nightmare is real." Sakura thought this gotta be a nightmare. It's bad enough that they were neighbors, but he couldn't possibly be in her school, much less in her class!

Something in Syaoran snapped.

Syaoran had always been always been patient. Having five unpredictable women in the house had taught him the value of patience. But unfortunately, not temperance. He did the only thing that's been running in his head the night before. He suddenly grabbed Sakura by the arm and shut the door close. _First impression be damned, this lady needs to know the rules right now. My rules._

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Sakura shrieked, trying to pull away from him. Syaoran speared her with the most chilling look he could muster that Sakura never thought could shut her up.

Sakura squirmed and tried to break free. But Syaoran gripped her tight and dragged her near the end of end of a deserted hallway. "You're hurting me! Terada-sensei's going to mark me late again!"

"Like I care." Then Syaoran spotted an open room. He shoved Sakura in, flicked on the lights and locked the door. Syaoran leaned back at the door, crossed his arms and stared at the gaping Sakura. Syaoran also noted that Sakura had gone pale. Maybe she was coming to think that he wasn't someone whom she could just bully? Maybe she'd buckle up and ask forgiveness for irritating him? Or maybe…

"You stupid jerk!" Sakura screamed when she found her voice. "You locked us up!"

"No, really. It wasn't that obvious," Syaoran sarcastically replied.

If there was anything that Syaoran had anticipated, it definitely wasn't being called a jerk again. Is there no way to scare the lady? Here he was, in his best I-could-kill-you-with-a-look attitude and the girl had just slapped his arm and tried to jiggle the door knob.

"Look—"

"No! Look here, _stupid,_" Sakura interrupted in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh you're calling me stupid now!"

"This door _is_ and _has always_ been jammed." Sakura advanced in on him and jabbed a finger at his chest. "Congratulations. You've just managed to imprison us on the room where anyone rarely visits."

Syaoran's loud groan was absorbed by tiny stock room's interiors.

(TBC)


End file.
